Previously on: This Is War
She was rushed to surgery and all I could do was wait.
Chapter 4
I wake up blinded from the light overhead and I groan in annoyance. I take in my surroundings and recognize the sterile environment as the medical ward.
I go over the events of what has to be the past two days in my head and can't help but smile at the success of the mission. I may have gotten injured in the process and humiliated myself but at least I'd completed the 'suicide mission' no one dared to take on.
I most certainly had not forgotten about the soldiers that I had left behind, some may have even escaped in the chaos.
In fact, it should have been the first thing I told Dimitri.
I was restless for the next hour or so, I'd impatiently asked a nurse to fetch General Belikov for me but she informed me that he was in an important meeting regarding the Spirit Wielder. My frustration levels peaked as I should be in that meeting. I'm the one that risked my ass to save him for gods sake! He's my responsibility. Or that's how I felt…
Eventually I gave up and waited for the nurse to stop checking my vitals. Once she'd left I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, grunting as I felt stitches tug on my wound.
Unfortunately the nurse was adamant on constantly checking up on me and she scolded me for trying to get out of bed.
That's when I lost my patience.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME! ALL I WANT IS TO SEE GUARDIAN BELIKOV AND FIND OUT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON. I'M THE ONE THAT RISKED MY ASS TO GET HIM HERE AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!"
I was perhaps being overdramatic but I was pissed off.
"Miss, he's busy. I'm sorry you'll have to wait." She says while writing something on her annoying chat.
"Fuck that, either you bring him here now or I'm going to fucking crawl there and ruin the doctors pretty stitches, you got that?" I said with as much restraint as I could muster.
"I'm sorry, I've been told not to disturb him unless it's important." The nurse responds calmly.
"THIS IS GOD DAMN IMPORTANT!" I said thrashing around, I didn't like being held against my will even though technically I needed to be here.
The nurse nodded and left my room and I sighed in relief. She finally got it through her head this was an emergency. Only when she returned it wasn't with my tall sexy Russian, instead she brought a syringe full of clear liquid.
"I'm sorry miss but a sedative has been requested by the doctor to keep you calm, lay back and it should take affect soon." She said again robotically.
No way was she giving me a sedative.
'YOU AREN'T PUTTING THAT ANYWHERE FUCKING NEAR ME, IS THIS HOW SOLDIERS GET TREATED AROUND HERE?" At this point I was livid, not giving a single thought about my stitches I swung my legs over the bed and prepared to stand, only a voice stopped me.
"You can't even go five minutes before screaming the place down can you?" Dimitri said shaking his head with a smirk.
I took in his appearance and was overwhelmed by how handsome he looked in his uniform, he was always handsome and spending so much time away from him made my heart ache.
"Maybe if someone would've just bloody brought you then I wouldn't have. What's this about a meeting with Robert, shouldn't I be hearing this?"
"Rose, you just came out of major surgery in which they had to remove 6 very large pieces of metal out of your body and you want to know about a meeting?" He said while doing the stupid eyebrow raising thing.
He nodded at the nurse to give us some privacy and she left, shaking her head as she went. I flipped her off behind her back.
"Yes Dimitri, I need to know I didn't risk my ass just to get an uncooperative spirit user that might not even want to help us after all he's been through. Not only that but I have something important to tell you, a mission that needs to be attended to as soon possible." I said in one very quick succession.
"There has been no problem with Robert, he has been exceptional and has given us all the possible information that we needed. Your success in this mission won't be forgotten and I'm sure the authorities will consider a promotion. However your continuous reckless and rogue behaviour has put you in a dangerous position. You killed a lot of civilians in that fortress and that mass amount of numbers won't go unnoticed. They feel as though they can't trust you if you keep going off on your own." He said to me while taking up a chair.
His face was stony, not showing much emotion. I figured it must be serious if he is speaking to me this way, he was angry at me.
"You're angry at me." I stated calmly.
"I'm more than angry, I'm livid. I didn't train you to be so stupid, to take on such reckless missions by yourself. When I received your request for back up I almost had a heart attack, I may not always be able to save you Rose and I fear for that day." His face had grown grim as he went on and my heart ached with guilt.
I'd truly believed the mission was my calling, that Robert needed to be saved and I was the only one willing to do it. My thirst for vengeance on Mason's death had blinded me and I had gone in recklessly.
I bowed my head in shame, only Dimitri could bring this out on me. But I truly did feel bad for what I'd put him through.
He stood up paced and tried to rub out the frustration lines on his chiselled perfect face.
I pated the spot beside me on the bed and he grudgingly sat beside me.
I grabbed his hand and took a breath.
"Dimitri, I'm sorry. Ever since Mason's death I've…I don't know I guess I've lost my way. I've been hell bent on taking on these crazy missions, to you know… make something of his death. Make sure it wasn't a waste. I don't mean to make you worry, I just…it's built in me to do this. I can't be in a team when I know that I'll lose some of them…I couldn't handle a death like Mason's again. I wouldn't be able to come back from it. I'm truly sorry and thank you for saving me, but there is something important I need to tell you."
He nodded to continue, my words had softened his stony expression and he'd squeezed my hand when I spoke about Mason.
"You're not out of the woods yet Rose, the authorities have requested an official meeting with you and I've been told to escort you-"
I nodded but continued to tell him about the soldiers.
"When I was saving Robert they had soldiers in the dungeons, our soldier's Dimitri, the men that we'd sent in a while ago. They need to be saved. We need to put together a rescue mission." I said in a rush.
"Robert already informed me of the men and what you'd promised to do, however the mission needs to be approved first and that may not happen. Since you've infiltrated the base they know what we're capable of. They'd have no doubt increased their security, they'll know we're coming for them."
I sighed in frustration and winced as slight sensation starting coming back to my abdomen.
"Do you need the nurse? You look like you're in pain." Dimitri said with a worried expression.
"We have more we need to discuss, but it can wait. Robert's settled in and the mission is being discussed. You've done the mission Roza, just rest for a little bit." He said smiling.
He started to leave but I grabbed his arm – "Wait."
"I haven't seen you in a month and I don't even get a kiss?" I said with a flirty wink.
"Oh believe me, I want to do nothing more than kiss you like I never have before but I'm still mad at you and I don't want to hurt your stitches." He said.
"Dimitri, my stitches aren't on my face. So bloody kiss me already."
There was hesitation on his face but he crossed the distance in one step and pulled me into the most passion filled loving kiss that I'd ever experienced.
I'd missed this man more than I realised and I wanted nothing more than to take him to a private room and enjoy our love making that we'd missed out on due to missions recently. My body yearned for him but I had to wait until I'd healed. You'd expect with all this new age technology that they'd just heal me straight away, but being a dhampir I should heal up nicely in the next few days.
I pouted when he pulled away and he chuckled.
"I'll see you later Roza, get some rest and I'll fetch you when it's time for the meeting." I nodded and closed my eyes.
The ordeal had made me tired and the nurse had finally injected me with painkillers and I was out like a light.
I woke up the next morning feeling quite refreshed and feeling good. My body had gotten the rest it needed.
I was joined shortly by none other than our famous spirit wielder.
"Good to see my rescuer is awake." He said sitting down in the unoccupied chair.
"Good to see you're still alive." I said back to him and he grunted.
"So tell me, I've been going crazy in here and Dimitri wasn't specific on how you're doing." I sat up in a more appropriate position and was happy to realize the pain was at a dull ache.
"The hospitality here has been very good, I've been able to relay all the information I can. However, freedom is what I crave, to see my brother again. But they insist I stay and help us carry out what they want. I asked what was in it for me, and they simply said; "What is more rewarding than this war won?"
I contemplated what he said and I almost laughed at their ignorance. Being able to return strigoi to human form may benefit us but there is still the question of how and where. It seems Robert must be valuable if he has this information resulting in the council not willing to let him go so easily. I wonder if he is technically a P.O.W to us now instead of the strigoi, are we any better than them?
Keeping a man from his freedom because he holds valuable information.
I felt sorry for him, I did.
I gripped his arm and tried to put as much sympathy into my expression as I could.
"I am grateful of course to you though, for saving me from that place. For even though my freedom seems to still be eluding me I am at least in ally's hands. No longer a P.O.W in danger I can finally do something. I'm sure what I can do will spark a whole new campaign altogether, I'm sure I'm not allowed to speak of this but I requested to stay in your capable hands. They looked at me like I was crazy, but there's something about you Rosemarie Hathaway. Something that could change this war and stop it. For no one wins when it comes to war."
I'd recognized the crazy spirit glint in his eyes, his voice changing to a monotone eeriness that I'd heard in spirit darkness victims. I nudged him and he'd returned, we both sat there in silence and I tossed his words around in my head.
In war there are no winners, only survivors.